Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Uncle Sam Wants... the cloud... and now Amazon is FedRAMP certified

Amazon launched a version of its cloud services for government agencies, called GovCloud, in 2011. And now AWS has received its Authority to Operate (AOA) letter. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services served as the sponsoring agency for AWS. Kevin Charest, HHS's chief information security officer, said in a statement that that all HHS operating divisions can now use AWS with minimal duplication in vetting Amazon's cloud security. FedRAMP was created in 2010 through a joint effort by the General Services Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, National Security Agency, Office of Management and Budget and the federal CIO Council. Cloud service providers must be sponsored by a federal agency to considered for FedRAMP.

U.S. government entities are already using AWS, the company said, adding that numerous agencies provide "systems integration and other products and services to governmental agencies are using the wide-range of AWS services today." Amazon said GovCloud content cannot be accessed by people outside of U.S. borders.
Because of the limited access, Amazon said agencies can safely move more sensitive data while remaining in cooperation with government regulations. GovCloud supports the same security controls available in existing AWS regions such as FISMA, FIPS 140-2 compliant end points, SAS-70, ISO 27001, and PCI DDS Level 1. It's also in line with HIPPA laws.


Read more at PC Magazine

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